CVE-2005-3523
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedFormat string vulnerability in friendsd2 in GpsDrive allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via the dir (direction) field.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceFormat string vulnerability in the friendsd2 daemon of GpsDrive allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by supplying format specifiers in the dir (direction) field. This type of vulnerability occurs when user-controlled input is passed directly to printf-style functions instead of using proper format string arguments.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 2.09<= 2.10pre2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed GpsDrive versionRun 'gpsdrive --version' or check package manager: 'dpkg -l | grep gpsdrive' (Debian) or 'rpm -qa | grep -i gpsdrive' (RPM-based)Affected if Version is 2.09 or earlier, or 2.10pre2 or earlier
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Verify friendsd2 daemon is presentCheck if the friendsd2 binary exists: 'which friendsd2' or 'find /usr -name friendsd2 -type f'Affected if The friendsd2 binary exists on the system
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Confirm friendsd2 is runningRun 'ps aux | grep friendsd2' or check running processesAffected if The friendsd2 daemon process is currently running
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Check if friendsd2 listens on network portsRun 'netstat -tlnp | grep friendsd2' or 'ss -tlnp | grep friendsd2' to see listening ports, or check /etc/services for the service portAffected if friendsd2 is bound to a network interface and accepting connections
A system is affected if GpsDrive version is 2.09 or earlier (or 2.10pre2 or earlier) AND the friendsd2 daemon is running and network-accessible, as the format string vulnerability is remotely exploitable through the dir field.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate GpsDrive to a patched version if available, or implement proper input validation and use format strings correctly (e.g., printf("%s", user_input) instead of printf(user_input)) in the friendsd2 source code. Consider network segmentation to limit exposure to the friendsd2 service.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-3523 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2005-3523 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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